Natalie Melmore, who earlier this year became the youngest woman ever to win
the national lawn bowls singles title, shed tears of joy on Wednesday after
winning the singles gold medal on the synthetic greens at the Jawarharlal
Nehru Stadium.

By Simon Hart in New Delhi

2:50PM BST 13 Oct 2010

The 21-year-old law and criminology student, a member of the Kings club in Torquay, completed a 2-0 victory over former world No 1 Val Smith, of New Zealand, taking the first set 7-6 before running away with the second 11-2.

As a non-Olympic sport, the Commonwealth Games tournament is considered the pinnacle of bowling and Melmore’s emotional victory brought more goods news for England following the triumph of Ellen Falkner and Amy Monkhouse in the pairs.

Fellow Torquay bowler Sam Tolchard just missed out on the podium when he was beaten on Wednesday in the singles bronze-medal match by Northern Ireland’s Garry Kelly.

Melmore is the new glamorous face of bowls and is hoping to use her success to promote the sport to a younger generation. She is more than half a century younger than the oldest bowler in New Delhi – 72-year-old Scot Willie Wood.